ever compensate for "jumping the string"

[G_Man]

Rookie bowhunter here, and im curious if yall anticipate deer jumping your string and compensate by aiming lower? I think this question came to my mind because i have an odd (probably irrational) fear that my bow is loud. Then again, Im new to bow hunting, so i dont really have much to compare it too.

ok....im gonna go practice while yall comfort my irrational fear and say it doesnt matter haha

 

[bowhunter163]

In my opinion You can't aim to anticipate the deer to move , because as soon as you do it won't . So aim at the spot you want to hit and make a strong shot . You can aim for heart and if the deer ducks still hit lung .

 

[UTGrad]

As mentioned above aim for the heart. If the deer loads it's legs and lowers its back you will still hit lungs.

 

[Jake47]

There are a lot of variables that go into this. Inside 30 yards I don't worry about it. Over 30 yards is a different story. My bow is a little bit older and shoots about 240-250 fps just to reference what I am about to discuss.

I had a bad streak going a couple years back where I hit 3-4 deer high above the lungs and never found any one of them. All deer were right around 35 yards and all of them I had to grunt at to get them to stop in a shooting lane. Therefore, they were all on high alert and instantly started ducking when I shot. Two years back I started compensating for it. I now aim at the spot where the front shoulder intersects the belly (quartering away of course) for deer at 35 yards or farther.

However, if it windy or noisy and the deer is feeding I would be less apt to hold low on it. Once you start getting over 40 you pretty much have to compensate unless it is really noisy or the deer is distracted. There was a good episode of Midwest Whitetail from a few years ago in which Bill Winke shot a buck he called Daggers at like 52 yards. He hit it high and recovered it, but it dropped at least 10" during the arrows flight.

Good luck and feel free to ask any additional questions you may have!

Here is that episode...
http://www.midwestwhitetail.com/gallery ... ggers.html

 

[Crow Terminator]

I've killed a bunch of deer with a bow. In my personal experience...I have very few that I can recall that didn't react to the shot in some way. The majority of which were by "ducking". I strive on having the quietest bow I can find for hunting...but it doesn't really matter. The deer in Tennessee are just so naturally skittish that even when they are at ease, they are still on edge. I've had bows that were upwards to 330 fps and still had them duck several inches at that speed. There's no bow made today that can outrun a deer's reaction time. That will only cease when bow companies produce bows that break the speed of sound. I learned early on that if you aim where you want to hit, you will hit higher than you wanted to, via the deer simply flinching/ducking just a big at the shot. So I do ALWAYS aim lower than where I want to hit.

 

[G_Man]

Thanks so much all of you! Im really looking forward to learning a whole new side of hunting...all the hunting i or my family have done has been with a boom boom stick, And typically out of a shooting house.

 

[muddyboots]

No

 

[TNDeerGuy]

I've killed a bunch of deer with a bow. In my personal experience...I have very few that I can recall that didn't react to the shot in some way. The majority of which were by "ducking". I strive on having the quietest bow I can find for hunting...but it doesn't really matter. The deer in Tennessee are just so naturally skittish that even when they are at ease, they are still on edge. I've had bows that were upwards to 330 fps and still had them duck several inches at that speed. There's no bow made today that can outrun a deer's reaction time. That will only cease when bow companies produce bows that break the speed of sound. I learned early on that if you aim where you want to hit, you will hit higher than you wanted to, via the deer simply flinching/ducking just a big at the shot. So I do ALWAYS aim lower than where I want to hit.

Spot on! To add to this, if it is a steep angle (example: you 20ft up and the deer at 10yds) your arrow is going to naturally hit higher than where you aimed. Practicing from treestand height is the best thing to figure out how much higher you will hit naturally, and then you have to think about what the deer will do and take all of that into consideration.

 

[fasteddie]

Aim where you want the arrow to exit.

 

[deerhunter10]

no and it seems most deer duck rather than jump. great advice stated above

 

[BAMA BOW MERKER]

I aim at the lower one third mark on the deer's vitals. My angle is so that my arrow will exit where I want it to. He stays still it's a good hit, or if he ducks this gives you largest room for movement.

 

[G_Man]

no and it seems most deer duck rather than jump. great advice stated above

Yeah i meant "react" or "flinch" not a literal, vertical "jump"... but thanks for the advice :) seems to be a unanimous consensus for the most part.

 

[102]

I've killed a bunch of deer with a bow. In my personal experience...I have very few that I can recall that didn't react to the shot in some way. The majority of which were by "ducking". I strive on having the quietest bow I can find for hunting...but it doesn't really matter. The deer in Tennessee are just so naturally skittish that even when they are at ease, they are still on edge. I've had bows that were upwards to 330 fps and still had them duck several inches at that speed. There's no bow made today that can outrun a deer's reaction time. That will only cease when bow companies produce bows that break the speed of sound. I learned early on that if you aim where you want to hit, you will hit higher than you wanted to, via the deer simply flinching/ducking just a big at the shot. So I do ALWAYS aim lower than where I want to hit.

EXCELLENT post Crow.

I agree 100 thousand percent.

Also, it gets a little easier the more you kill.

Interesting point to ponder.

I almost always aim low on deer. Everywhere I have killed them, in every state and count, I have aimed low.

THat is, until I got to Illinois.

FOr some weird reason the deer just don't duck as much.
Go figure.

I have actually aimed BELOW some of my kills and made SPINE shots!

 

[Radar]

I have killed more deer by aiming low at the heart , and hitting them in the lungs when they duck , than by not aiming low . The times I didn't , I ended up hitting the shoulder . If they don't duck on a heart shot , it's still a heart shot . ;)

 

[GOODWIN]

I'll agree. In the past I'd aim for middle of lungs and shot over many deer or would hit them too high. Several years ago I started settling my pin on a low heart shot and have had a lot more success. If the deer ducks you still hit lungs. Plus if you don't have proper form out of a tree, most people tend to shoot a little higher.

 

[woodsman87]

Not a great bow hunter here, but have taken a few. I pretty much agree with everybody else. When I started shooting at deer with bows, I kept hitting them high or missing or just scraping their back. It took me two seasons to finally realize I need to aim low. I aim about at their "armpit", especially if the deer is real close and I am way up high. I usually hit both lungs when aiming at armpit. I have never noticed if it is the deer reacting or if my bow or myself just shoots that much higher when Im am in a treestand.

I only practice elevated now days, so my bow will be sighted in for tree stand hunting. I do not bowhunt from the ground or in ground blinds, so I don't worry about that. If I ever had to shoot off the ground, I would compensate for by sights being tuned in for treestand hunting.

 

[G_Man]

I'll agree. In the past I'd aim for middle of lungs and shot over many deer or would hit them too high. Several years ago I started settling my pin on a low heart shot and have had a lot more success. If the deer ducks you still hit lungs. Plus if you don't have proper form out of a tree, most people tend to shoot a little higher.

Yup...that last sentence was me tonight haha. Got in a stand and started shooting and noticed i was hitting high my first go around. Started walking through my "steps" while aiming and made better shots from then on. Need to put more time in that way.

 

[TNDeerGuy]

I'll agree. In the past I'd aim for middle of lungs and shot over many deer or would hit them too high. Several years ago I started settling my pin on a low heart shot and have had a lot more success. If the deer ducks you still hit lungs. Plus if you don't have proper form out of a tree, most people tend to shoot a little higher.

Yup...that last sentence was me tonight haha. Got in a stand and started shooting and noticed i was hitting high my first go around. Started walking through my "steps" while aiming and made better shots from then on. Need to put more time in that way.

It is normal to hit slightly high when shooting from elevated positions due to physics�the steeper the angle, the higher you will hit. However, poor "treestand form" can amplify those high hits�remember to bend at the waist and keep your upper body in the exact same form as you do at level ground when shooting down angles.

 

[Boone 58]

I have in some situations, if you shoot long enough you will wish you had....remember shooting from steep angles from a tree requires you to shoot...aim...lower. the one thing I have learned is that deer are easy to miss the vital on steep angle shots and coupled with their ability to squat as they get ready to run is a double whammy.....my take is that you are better to aim low for both reasons esp. if the deer is "alert".

 

[HOOK]

Always aim for a heart shot... if the deer drops to run you'll still be in the kill zone...